STOCKTON, Calif. – Pacific women's basketball has a quick turnaround as it welcomes No. 17 Gonzaga for Orange Out and Youth Basketball Day at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Alex G. Spanos Center.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Don Gubbins and Celeste Gehring on the call. Fans will not want to miss the halftime interview with University of the Pacific President Christopher Callahan.
Pacific (14-10, 6-5 WCC) is coming off an 80-74 upset against Portland who is ranked No. 2 in the West Coast Conference. Graduate student Cecilia Holmberg racked up a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds. Senior Liz Smith finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Junior Anaya James had 15 points, seven assists and three steals.
Junior Elizabeth Elliott is the Tigers leading scorer and rebounder. The Inglewood, Calif. native is averaging 13.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Elliott has registered three of her nine career double doubles this season.
Smith has been a spark for Pacific since returning to the squad. The Dallas native is the second leading scorer with 13.1 points per game.
Holmberg and James are averaging 12.1 and 12.0 points per game. Senior Kadie Deaton is scoring 10.5 per game.
The Tigers are second behind the Bulldogs in three statistical categories. One of them being in scoring offense. Pacific is currently registering 71.3 points per game while Gonzaga (25-2, 12-0 WCC) is notching 81.9.
Yvonne Ejim leads the Bulldogs and the WCC with 19.9 points per game. She is also posting 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. Ejim is on the watch list for the Wade Trophy and Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year.
Up next, Pacific plays its final two road games of the season in southern California, beginning with Pepperdine at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
NOTES
-This is the 26th meeting between the Tigers and Bulldogs. Pacific will look for its first win against Gonzaga since 2016.
-The Tigers are 10-3 at the Spanos Center this season. Pacific's .769 winning percentage at home is the best since the 2012-13 season.
-The Tigers are 13-1 when leading at halftime and 10-4 when scoring 70 or more points.
- Pacific is ranked in the top 100 in the country in six statistical categories, with their highest being 30th in assists per game (17.0).
-Three players are nationally ranked individually. Junior
Elizabeth Elliott is 16th in field goal percentage (.593). Junior
Anaya James is 24th in assists per game (5.5) and total dishouts (131) and 76th in assist/turnover ratio (1.9). Senior
Liz Smith is 38
th in free throw percentage (.593) and 97
th in made free throws (86).
-Three Tigers are close to reaching 1,000 career points: Anaya James (949), Liz Smith (931), Elizabeth Elliott (930).
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